Author Topic: Time Travel and Meeting Yourself in the Future (Read 11623 times)

frankcapri · « **on:** August 04, 2009, 09:29:54 AM »

For the longest time I thought meeting myself in the future would be impossible
because I thought that if I traveled into the future, I would cease to exist on my present time line.

A few days ago I realized that if I traveled to the future, eventually I would travel back
to my present time meaning I could see myself in the future.

It was quite a revelation for me, seeing that I spend a lot of time thinking about time travel

Whatever the case, this is all theoretical. If you ask me, I think physical time travel is impossible.
If I traveled anywhere in time, I would be removing matter from the universe which would probably
result in a black hole in the time I left, and an explosion in the time I entered.

Skadi · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2009, 09:59:30 AM »

Quote from: frankcapri on August 04, 2009, 09:29:54 AM

I would be removing matter from the universe which would probably
result in a black hole in the time I left, and an explosion in the time I entered.

Not if an infinite number of multiple you's existed at the same time. If that was the case.. it shouldn't matter *thinks* right? It be more like tracers. Or at least how I picture it... I picture time travel as more fluid.. and calm...more influenced by the proper state of mind. I usually don't imagine explosions

frankcapri · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:03:28 AM »

I dunno. Every one of me exists in his own special place in time. I think that if I
took one of those and put it somewhere else it would seriously jack up the universe $:-\$

I'm all for mental time travel or time travel of the Quantum Leap variety. Those are more plausible.

dweez · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:05:47 AM »

Not to belittle this topic any but I've been reading through some user on Dem's compilation of the Spider-Man Clone Saga and a New Warriors character codenamed TimeSlip was able to travel in time by projecting her mind/psyche into the past or future versions of herself while her mind/psyche of that time period would occupy her body during the present. This method of time traveling would avoid breaking the law of conservation of energy. Hmm, now that I think of it, it's sort of like Quantum Leap.

C.S. Lewis also believe something similar. He believe (and I'm seriously glossing over it so I might be missing some details) that all the memories we would ever have, we always had. And that when we experienced deja vu, we were just remembering our previous knowledge of the event occurring.

It's kind of wicked to twist your head around stuff like that but I really enjoy deep thinking like that.

dweez · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:11:13 AM »

I also believe in the more rational, "logical" time travel notion that as speed increases, time decreases for those things/objects experiencing it so in essence you'd be traveling forward through time (sort of like the extended life Andrew Wiggins experienced as he traveled from world to world as the Speaker for the Dead). Of course this is just a one way trip so there's no going back and using any knowledge/equipment you picked up for your own advantage. Also, I guess it can be argued that for it to really by called "time travel" the person in question shouldn't just move fast forward through time but rather skip periods altogether.

smokester · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:17:57 AM »

I'm still trying to work out WTF happened in series 5 of "Lost"? But I must admit that the explanation that if you went back in time it would still be your "present", just that for you time didn't move in a linear path at that point, made perfect sense for about 5 minutes.

dweez · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:28:03 AM »

It opens it up if you remove the "linear" restraint from time. Just like moving in space, you can cross a street then decide to cross back over. If time were like that (and we just didn't know how to manipulate it) then you could travel back and forth in time as easy as you traveled back and forth to work.

Hmm, it reminds me of one of the "GROW" games. Ah, here it is. You have to use "time travel" to properly solve it.

frankcapri · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:29:07 AM »

I couldn't wrap my brain around that game. I had to read the cheats

Quote from: dweez on August 04, 2009, 10:05:47 AM

C.S. Lewis also believe something similar. He believe (and I'm seriously glossing over it so I might be missing some details) that all the memories we would ever have, we always had. And that when we experienced deja vu, we were just remembering our previous knowledge of the event occurring.

Given that, I suppose if people ingested enough narcotics they could tap into the memories of their deaths

Quote from: dweez on August 04, 2009, 10:11:13 AM

I also believe in the more rational, "logical" time travel notion that as speed increases, time decreases for those things/objects experiencing it so in essence you'd be traveling forward through time (sort of like the extended life Andrew Wiggins experienced as he traveled from world to world as the Speaker for the Dead). Of course this is just a one way trip so there's no going back and using any knowledge/equipment you picked up for your own advantage. Also, I guess it can be argued that for it to really by called "time travel" the person in question shouldn't just move fast forward through time but rather skip periods altogether.

If it were possible to create a zone where things were approaching the speed of light, one could really travel into the future.
Maybe that's the ticket for bonafide time travel $:-\$

Skadi · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:42:59 AM »

Quote

I dunno. Every one of me exists in his own special place in time. I think that if I took one of those and put it somewhere else it would seriously jack up the universe

See? I still picture it like tracers? like you?re leaving small energy paths everywhere, in all universes, every step. I picture it more fluid like that. Except that there could be infinite things each of you are doing.
If time travel were really limited.. one universe.. one life.. then I could definitely see how things could get jacked. Like the ?Back to the Future? idea.
If that ^ was the case.. then yeah, I can see all kinds of things getting jacked. Like the character that got their head lopped off by a startled on looker the minute they hit the past, in Michael Crichton?s book Timeline
Plus.. I can see lots of problems with travelling via any type of machinery.. they?re too many fail factors. It would have to be mentally and organically induced to work.
But in infinite universes, with infinite outcomes? a ?single? one of you seems less threatening.

Quote

I'm all for mental time travel

Not me.. I want to travel physically to a place. And have control of it.
Things like astral projection and lucid dreaming seem to tame for me. I?d want to do something big, in a big way. Besides, real life people already interrupt my dreams with sending me mental messages, and they just end up interrupting a good dream? it?s highly annoying

So, I imagine time travelling mentally only, would be equally dissatisfying in lots of ways.

Quote

TimeSlip was able to travel in time by projecting her mind/psyche into the past or future versions of herself while her mind/psyche of that time period would occupy her body during the present. This method of time traveling would avoid breaking the law of conservation of energy.

I can see that ^ But, I can also still see getting enough control over your mental stability? that you could push past constraints, and make your physical body travel also.. but do it in a way that doesn?t break any laws of energy. It would take a level of concentration and calm and discipline that would surpass even Buddhist monks.. so, not many people could achieve it. But, it?s fun to think that it could be done.

Quote

Of course this is just a one way trip

That ^ would be a drag. I?m not going to imagine it that way. I?m going to imagine that I develop enough mental superiority to meditate like a monk, then travel through time, and at the same time discover a way to make myself immortal ..and trace anywhere I want to.

Skadi · « **Reply #9 on:** August 04, 2009, 10:45:54 AM »

Things like linear paths is too limiting. And too limited a way of thinking. The more limits, the easier it is to find issues with something. If it were posible, whoever figured it out, would be thinking beyond accepted limitations and laws. Or, they'd figure it out by complete accident

ohcheap1 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 04, 2009, 11:29:00 AM »

Quote from: frankcapri on August 04, 2009, 09:29:54 AM

For the longest time I thought meeting myself in the future would be impossible
because I thought that if I traveled into the future, I would cease to exist on my present time line.

A few days ago I realized that if I traveled to the future, eventually I would travel back
to my present time meaning I could see myself in the future.

It was quite a revelation for me, seeing that I spend a lot of time thinking about time travel

Whatever the case, this is all theoretical. If you ask me, I think physical time travel is impossible.
If I traveled anywhere in time, I would be removing matter from the universe which would probably
result in a black hole in the time I left, and an explosion in the time I entered.

EXHIBIT A: Sleep deprivation from a new born infant born to parents over 30.

Discover99 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 04, 2009, 11:45:47 AM »

goldshirt*9 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 04, 2009, 11:47:52 AM »

Quote from: ohcheap1 on August 04, 2009, 11:29:00 AM

EXHIBIT A: Sleep deprivation from a new born infant born to parents over 30.

+ 1
alot of sleepless nights already then

frankcapri · « **Reply #13 on:** August 04, 2009, 01:35:12 PM »

I don't think I've passed into REM sleep since he was born. On Star Trek TNG that made everybody go nuts. Meebe.... $:-\$

goldshirt*9 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 04, 2009, 01:41:28 PM »

dont worry it passes eventually

JackFrost · « **Reply #15 on:** August 05, 2009, 02:36:11 PM »

One of the things I think gets left out most when discussing time travel situations is the fact that the planet itself is moving through space and time - both in its own orbit and on the arm of the milky way which incorporates it.

So any proper time travel coordinates would have to be able to research or predict where the planet had been/would be and move the machine accordingly. Otherwise you travel back 50 years, the planet is probably somewhere else and there you are floating in a vacuum or are being dragged into a black hole or something...

laama · « **Reply #16 on:** August 05, 2009, 04:00:32 PM »

Probably less good idea to see what I am in future.

Methiah · « **Reply #17 on:** August 06, 2009, 04:39:10 PM »

Quote

So any proper time travel coordinates would have to be able to research or predict where the planet had been/would be and move the machine accordingly. Otherwise you travel back 50 years, the planet is probably somewhere else and there you are floating in a vacuum or are being dragged into a black hole or something...

Coordinates relative to what? You are thinking in absolute terms. If a time travel device was ever constructed you would probably only be able to return to the point in time and space that it was initially constructed.

frankcapri · « **Reply #18 on:** August 06, 2009, 04:43:31 PM »

...but the machine would be able to travel along any point in the time line. Why the date of construction limitation?

Quote from: JackFrost on August 05, 2009, 02:36:11 PM

One of the things I think gets left out most when discussing time travel situations is the fact that the planet itself is moving through space and time - both in its own orbit and on the arm of the milky way which incorporates it.

So any proper time travel coordinates would have to be able to research or predict where the planet had been/would be and move the machine accordingly. Otherwise you travel back 50 years, the planet is probably somewhere else and there you are floating in a vacuum or are being dragged into a black hole or something...

I hadn't really thought of that. Time travel is complicated

Methiah · « **Reply #19 on:** August 06, 2009, 04:57:42 PM »

Because I'm thinking that the device would have to provide a link itself between "points" in spacetime but there is not an absolute coordinate system or time frame. So it might be limited from wherever and whenever the device has existed to get past that.

frankcapri · « **Reply #20 on:** August 06, 2009, 05:04:12 PM »

Ahh. I get it. I hadn't thought of that either.

That would probably be the safest way to avoid Jack's problem, but I want
to imagine that it's possible that the best time machine would also be a spaceship and flying car.

A vacuum would probably be the best place to show up in any given time period seeing that
it's less likely the machine will appear in the same place as something (or someone) else.

smokester · « **Reply #21 on:** August 06, 2009, 05:04:31 PM »

Fictionally speaking, not only can a time travel device pinpoint the exact coordinates to materialise, but it can also check no one is looking when you do.

Robin-Graves · « **Reply #22 on:** August 09, 2009, 02:11:55 PM »

Quote from: JackFrost on August 05, 2009, 02:36:11 PM

One of the things I think gets left out most when discussing time travel situations is the fact that the planet itself is moving through space and time - both in its own orbit and on the arm of the milky way which incorporates it.

So any proper time travel coordinates would have to be able to research or predict where the planet had been/would be and move the machine accordingly. Otherwise you travel back 50 years, the planet is probably somewhere else and there you are floating in a vacuum or are being dragged into a black hole or something...

Thank you Frosty for that logical entry,,
I myself had though of that, and how the surprised look on te time travelers face would look when h/she finds themselves in the vacuum of space lol.
Its almost the same principle as teleportation. No one has taken the movement of the target object through time and space.

Id like to go back in time and warn myself about some things n my "future",,,See if I cant save myself some grief.

Skadi · « **Reply #23 on:** August 09, 2009, 07:46:30 PM »

Quote from: frankcapri on August 06, 2009, 05:04:12 PM

but I want
to imagine that it's possible that the best time machine would also be a spaceship and flying car.

you just want a giant cool toy

would it have custom flames detailed on it?

dweez · « **Reply #24 on:** August 09, 2009, 08:00:38 PM »

Hellz yeah!

Skadi · « **Reply #25 on:** August 10, 2009, 09:24:31 AM »

Quote from: dweez on August 09, 2009, 08:00:38 PM

Hellz yeah!

^ Mine would be a ?57 butter yellow Ford pickup

The machine from the movie Contact is pretty cool. But, I still think things would get jacked, and be dangerous if we had to rely on machines. We might get to the discovery quicker utilizing them.. But I still think finding a way without using them, would be better.

Movie Gadget Friday: The Machine from Contact

For the last Movie Gadget Friday Josie Fraser checked out the Wall-Screen from Fahrenheit 451, for this week's installment she looks at the Machine from Contact:
Directed by Robert "Forest Gump" Zemeckis, and based on the novel by Carl Sagan, Contact was released in 1997. Jodie Foster plays her usual non-conformist, independent and free-spirited character, this time occupied as a radio astronomer obsessed with finding proof of alien life. With the help of 27 massive radio telescopes in Socorro, New Mexico (the aptly named Very Large Array), she discovers a broadcast from deep space. The seriousness of the film rackets up a notch as we go into Capital Letters.

The Message turns out to be a spec manual for an enormous and expensive Machine. Unfortunately the instructions for the Machines use, it?s purpose, and the consequences of actually using it, are entirely vague outside of the technical detail. Still, the billions needed for the mysterious alien project turn up and a couple of the machines are built. Personally, I have problems just getting to IKEA and back with Storage Solutions that actually fit in the car.

The machine turns out to be an intergalactic transportation device, consisting of three distinctive parts: a central sphere composed of giant whirling metal rings; the actual vehicle, which is a small, single passenger sized pod; and a sky-scraper tall gantry for dropping the pod from a tremendous height through the moving rings.

In the film the rings are whirling for a reason their acceleration creates a wormhole so that the pod can be dropped through to an otherwise impossibly distant point in space. Although I?m sure Engadget readers can think of plenty of people they?d like to nominate for a free ride whether it actually worked or not.

Skadi · « **Reply #26 on:** August 10, 2009, 09:31:07 AM »

^ oh, and.. that machine was distance based, not really time

..but, it's cool anyway

I think my point is it was one of the better tought-out, and cooler examples that I've seen which illustrates a 'jump' in technology.

dweez · « **Reply #27 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:47:42 AM »

Yeah, I loved Contact, even though I think Jodi Foster gets a little bit whiny in it...and Matthew McConnaghy (sp) as the religious element? Um...<sarcasm>OK</sarcasm>. It also did have a bit of a "time" element to it as the wormhole...

Spoiler (hover to show)

Skadi · « **Reply #28 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:57:25 AM »

No, your right.. it did have a time element.. But.. it wasn't built specifically to time travel. If we're staying on subject, I'd veered off it to a certain extent... so I was self correcting

LOL @ spoiler. I bet any of us nerdy enough to be posting on this thread, have also seen Contact..but maybe not

..and yeah.. the character dyanamics were a little heavy handed. But, it still had some cool elements to it. The Machine, being one of them.

dweez · « **Reply #29 on:** August 10, 2009, 11:34:33 AM »

Hehe, I through the spoiler tags out just to be on the safe side.

knownassociate · « **Reply #30 on:** August 14, 2009, 01:36:29 AM »

Gots to agree about the casting. I remember an old Twilight Zone or Outer Limits where the same time concept was used.

OT Time travel would be cool. But why to meet myself? That would be a bit redundant. I wonder tho', what things would be like....if we hadn't destroyed the world in the meantime.